Category: Digital Agencies

  • Chraneeta Mann and Nitin Suri team up to launch The Mob

    Chraneeta Mann and Nitin Suri team up to launch The Mob

    MUMBAI:  Rediffusion Y&R national creative director Chraneeta Mann and former Dentsu national creative director Nitin Suri have come together to form The Mob, a ‘mobile first’ agency, based out of Gurgaon.

    “More and more communication is being consumed through the increasing plethora of devices available at our fingertips, allowing a convergence of brand speak, digital and interactive communication on what we call the ‘personal screen’ – our window to the way the world lives, buys, chats, works/networks and entertains itself today. The nuance of the mobile is very interactivity driven and weaving exceptional design and ease of interaction into the UI is essential today. We see a big opportunity in crafting content particularly for this space and hope to lead the way in creating mobile solutions that enhance the relevance and impact of mainline communication,” said Mann.

     

    The Mob has already started work on a couple of large brands including some initial work with Yes Bank. A corporate identity project is also being done for Sandeep Goyal owned Tango Media. A team of 16 is already on board. “Yes, business is good. We should be signing on at least one larger client next week,” concluded Suri.

  • Digital Marketing Integration: foreseegame.com backs brands in consumer engagement

    Digital Marketing Integration: foreseegame.com backs brands in consumer engagement

    MUMBAI: Digital marketing is a foundation stone of any marketing strategy nowadays and with the plethora of devices taking over television and print media world, there is now an even bigger need to come up with a successful digital marketing strategy to make brands known to the public at large.

     

    Real time data analysis helps in optimising campaign effectiveness wherein requisite changes can be made in a relatively lesser time span as compared to traditional marketing thereby providing a holistic approach to effective campaign management.

    Kolkata-headquartered digital media company foreseegame.com, which has tied up with more than 105 brands including Emami, Jabong.com, Spencer’s, Khadim’s, Myntra.com, adda52.com and LimeRoad to name a few among others, acts as a bridge between brands and their customers to build strong bonding, which further leads the customers to become brand loyal consumers

     

    foreseegame.com is a medium where people can register and play games for free and get rewarded directly by the brands themselves. Through such engagement programmes, the brands can see these people converting into customers soon. The constant engagement with brands excites consumers to test the products and services.

     

    The consumer engagement platform, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsec Enterprises, is eyeing to associate with approximately 500 brands by the end of current fiscal year 2015-16. It is a value innovation in digital brand promotion and marketing media. This new age platform provides a two way engagement and a win-win partnership through direct interactions between brands and consumers.

     

    foreseegame.com CEO Supriya Nair said, “Through our platform and engagement games, brands can engage with people from any age group who are internet savvy. Brands can place themselves in the mind of our game buddies (foreseegame.com users) and build more consumers.”

     

    foreseegame.com is a platform for branding, close interaction with the mass and also helps in communicating latest offers & offering by the associating brands.

     

    “It is a medium, which covers the full cycle of engagement by providing solution of rich engagement, and establishing an emotional connect between the brands and foreseegame.com users. Our platform provides a focused consumer engagement campaign/ solution. Brands stand to gain undiluted consumer attention towards its products and services by the way of fun-filled interaction,” the CEO said, explaining what foreseegame.com has to offer to clients.

     

    Businesses are trying hard to win the marketing battle by implementing all sorts of digital and traditional campaigns. Some work, some don’t, some go terribly bad. The toughest part of digital marketing is that there are thousands of places where marketing campaigns are placed; websites, social media, TV, radio, blogs, video streams etc. Arriving at the ROI (Return on Investment) from all these different campaigns is a difficult task, and hard to get accurate reports out of them, Nair further explained.

     

    “By using foreseegame.com, brands can engage with people and register the brands in the minds of people. Going forward, brands stand to gain undiluted consumer attention towards its products and offerings. The constant engagement with brands excites consumers to test the product and ultimately become the customer of the brand,” she said.

     

    In order for brands to win on the digital battlefield, understanding what digital channels and what types of digital content perform is the vital first step in “planning.” Digital advertising is set to become the fastest-growing global advertising segment over the next five years according to McKinsey, with projected compound annual increases of 15.1 per cent by 2018, compared to five per cent for TV (including advertising, out-of-home advertising, and cinema).

     

    Smart digital marketers are now investing and building integrated digital campaigns around high-impact channels while understanding how content insights, production and measurement fuel their performance.

     

    “Consumer engagement is required, but that should not just be limited to an interaction with customers. It should be more like a long-term affair, wherein key consumer insights should also be taken into account,” opined Nair.

     

    When asked if the company takes consumer insights into account, she said, “Brand ideas are often the culmination of consumer insight and the brand offer.”

     

    Speaking on how brands benefit by integrating with foreseegame.com, Nair said, “New brands can make foreseegame.com users to get to know about them and their products and service whereas, existing known brands can maintain their grip in a stronger way to its existing consumers and also can build new consumers base.”

     

    foreseegame.com with its various campaign models helps brands to reach their target group directly. “Brands with campaign model like ‘Opinion Square’ can take a public opinion on their existing and upcoming products and services which would help them to modify as per the market requirement. Similarly, ‘Treasure Hunt’, another campaign model helps to get more traffic to the website/social media pages of the brand, which popularise their website/social media pages,” she said.

     

    “Dedicated campaign around the associated brand build strong connect between the brand and game buddies where they get a chance to win offers and offerings directly from the brands. foreseegame.com instils a pride of winning, as game buddies (foreseegame.com users) participate in the brand dedicated games and win the offer,” Nair concluded.

  • iProspect Communicate2 bags 4 metals at India Digital Media Awards 2015

    iProspect Communicate2 bags 4 metals at India Digital Media Awards 2015

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Aegis Network’s iProspect Communicate2 has won four awards across three categories at the India Digital Media Awards 2015.

     

    The honours included two metals in the ‘Best PPC’ category, with the agency picking up Gold and Silver for Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Life campaigns respectively. They also won a Bronze for the ‘Most Effective Use of Digital Analytics’ in social media for the Big Bazaar campaign. The agency also won a Bronze for ‘Best Use of Technology’ for Koovs.

     

    The objective of the Indian Digital Media Awards 2015 is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the work being done in the ever-growing advertising and marketing communications activity in the digital media space specifically, internet, mobile, gaming, social media and the blogosphere.

     

    iProspect Communicate 2 CEO Vivek Bhargava said, “It is a privilege to have our work in the digital space recognised by IDMA. As a team of extremely dedicated professionals who work endlessly, to offer our clients the best online solutions, it is wonderful to have our hard work recognised and I would like to thank IDMA for these honours.”

  • YRF partners FreeCultr’s digital platform to offer branded merchandise

    YRF partners FreeCultr’s digital platform to offer branded merchandise

    MUMBAI: With an aim to offer its branded clothes to a wider audience, Yash Raj Films has partnered with lifestyle digital platform FreeCultr Express.

     

    FreeCultr Express is a crowd-sourced design platform that allows anyone to create and sell t-shirts through their very own personalized tee-store featuring original and authentic digital content. With this partnership, now YRF branded tees will be available on FreeCultr Express.

     

    The online tee store goes live on 5 June, 2015 and fans can buy merchandise from YRF movies across genres.

     

    Yash Raj Films vice president marketing and merchandising Manan Mehta said, “Our audience loves the movies we make and our attempt as YRF Merchandise is always to give them a complete experience of brand YRF. For the audience, T-shirts are an extension of their personalities and these designs mean different things to different people – to some it’s a work of satire, and to others it’s a tribute, and for some it is their way to hold on to a piece of movie that they can take home. And in FreeCultr, we have found that right partner and platform to reach out to our audience and serve them better.”

     

    FreeCultr CEO and co-founder Sandeep Singh added, “We at FreeCultr are thrilled to bring to our customers an opportunity to re-live the favourite moments. Bollywood in India has always been larger than life and now FreeCultr through its platform – FreeCultr Express, is offering the fans to wear this attitude. We are honoured to have a prestigious brand like Yash Raj Films coming on board with us!”

     

    The YRF Store will feature some of the most popular screenshots, characters and dialogues on tees across eras and genres. From Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Dil Toh Pagal Hai to recent films like Dhoom 3, these tees have everything that resonates with GenX.

     

    The T-shirts will be available at http://www.freecultr.com/store/yrfstore and have designs for both men and women. They come under two variants – the casual wear and the active wear. 

  • Television dominates consumption even as other mediums emerge

    Television dominates consumption even as other mediums emerge

    MUMBAI: Despite the growth explosion in the digital and mobile universe, the age-old medium of television continues to lead the popularity chart when it comes to consumption, according to ZenithOptimedia’s Media Consumption Forecasts report.

     

    Attracting 183.9 minutes of consumption a day in 2014, television, despite its recent relatively minor decline, by far remains the most popular of all media globally.

     

    On the other hand, Internet consumption came a distant second at 109.5 minutes a day. Television accounted for 42.4 per cent of global media consumption in 2010, and 37.9 per cent in 2014 as per the report, generated after surveying the changing patterns of media consumption in 65 countries across the world. The report also predicts that television will still account for more than a third (34.7 per cent) by 2017.

     

    Internet disrupting traditional media with its robust growth

    While the internet has propelled growth in overall media consumption, it has also eroded the consumption of traditional media. The consumption of every traditional medium except outdoor (i.e. newspapers, magazines, television, radio and cinema) fell between 2010 and 2014, directly because of competition from the internet, the report predicts their decline to continue to 2017.

     

    Newspapers have suffered the most from competition from the internet, followed by magazines. Between 2010 and 2014, the average time spent reading newspapers fell by 25.6 per cent, while time spent reading magazines fell 19 per cent. Television consumption fell by just six per cent. Between 2014 and 2017, newspaper consumption is expected to shrink by an average of 4.7 per cent a year, while magazines and TV will shrink at average rates of 4.4 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively.

     

    Internet consumption to grow at 10 % p.a, expanding overall consumption

    Global media consumption increased from an average of 461.8 minutes a day in 2010 to 485.3 minutes a day in 2014, an increase of 5.1 per cent, or an average of 1.2 per cent a year. Over these years, the amount of time people spent using the internet nearly doubled from an average of 59.6 to 109.5 minutes a day, while time allocated to more traditional media shrank from 402.2 to 375.8 minutes. Mobile technology in particular has created new opportunities to consume media, by allowing people to access the internet while out and about – shopping, commuting to work, waiting to meet friends, and so on.

     

    The report forecasts that, between 2014 and 2017, the amount of time spent consuming media around the world will increase by an average 1.4 per cent a year, reaching 506.0 minutes in 2017. Meanwhile, internet consumption will grow by 9.8 per cent a year to reach 144.8 minutes a day. The internet’s share of overall media consumption will rise from 12.9 per cent in 2010 and 22.6 per cent in 2014 to 28.6 per cent in 2017.

     

    Exposure to outdoor advertising is rising

    The amount of time people are exposed to outdoor advertising increased by 1.2 per cent between 2010 and 2014, from 106.0 to 107.2 minutes a day. This is the result of several factors more displays being built in public spaces, migration to cities in emerging markets, and consumers’ greater willingness to spend their leisure time out of the home as their disposable income recovered after the financial crisis. Between 2014 and 2017, exposure to outdoor advertising is expected to increase by 0.2 per cent a year.

     

    Latin Americans spend the most time with media; Asia Pacific the least

    Media consumption is highest in Latin America, where people spent an average of 744 minutes consuming media in 2014, and lowest in Asia Pacific, where consumption averaged just 301 minutes that year. Time spent consuming media in Asia Pacific is growing well ahead of the global average, however, as economic development gives people access to more media, and more leisure time in which to consume them: media consumption expanded by 6.7 per cent in 2014. The report forecasts average annual growth of 2.9 per cent to 2017.

     

    “The average person already spends half their waking life consuming media. But people around the world are clearly hungry for even more opportunities to discover information, enjoy entertainment and communicate with each other, and new technology is supplying these opportunities. Technology also enables brands to communicate with and learn from consumers in new ways. We expect media consumption to continue to grow for the foreseeable future, multiplying the opportunities for brands to develop relationships with consumers,” said ZenithOptimedia head of forecasting Jonathan Barnard.

  • Happy Finish gives brands an augmented reality experience

    Happy Finish gives brands an augmented reality experience

    MUMBAI: In the advertising world, every agency is pushing the bar in order to give the best to clients by using highly efficient creative tools. However, it seems that these tools were not giving clients the necessary results. In the midst of all this, Happy Finish has now realized the potential of augmented reality in India.

    Augmented reality is something where a mobile device is used with a Samsung gear or Oculus to overlay real world objects with digital content and virtual reality. It enables viewing digital content through a wearable device that completely blocks the real world and immerses one in an alternate universe.

    The Beginning

    Founded in 2004 by Stuart Waplington, Rainer Usselmann and Chris Roome, Happy Finish was set up to represent the best digital artists in the world, allowing art directors, photographers and brands the freedom to develop creative ideas and unique visual styles, often pushing the boundaries of what is possible to set new standards in the industry.

    Global presence

    Having set a long journey, today Happy Finish has global presence with six offices. The company’s second office was launched in Mumbai in 2011 and since then it has expanded into cities like Shanghai, Portland, New York and another office in London.

    Why India?

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about the company’s India operations and the way forward, Happy Finish India CEO Ashish Limaye says, “We entered the Indian market to cater to domestic demand and advertisers and marketers had realized then that they need Augmented Reality/ Computer Generated (CG) images for their television and outdoor work.”

    While Happy Finish possibly provides the best of imagery across touch points, the brand saw the potential in India and aimed to target about 18-20 per cent of the print market where a lot of CG animation and imagery is used. They identified that communication is going to become more sophisticated and hence it was the right time for them to invest in Indian market.

    Clients in India and abroad

    The brand has worked with brands like Burberry, Nike, Mercedes and Skoda among others in global markets. Meanwhile, Happy Finish has been doing some phenomenal work for the Indian market by working with Mahindra, Renault, Suzuki Ciaz, Johnson & Johnson, HUL, Marico and Baskin Robbins among others.

    Limaye adds, “We either directly work with the brand or it gets channelized through the agency. There is a lot of brain storming that goes in all the nuances and are glad that clients are happy with our work.”

    What do they do?

    Happy Finish provides services ranging from retouch, 3D, animation, interactive and motion effects apart from giving the augmented reality experience and providing CG images. They have worked with clients across the fashion, automotive industry and production houses.

    Happy Finish Global CEO Simon Gosling says, “Our imagery work with global magazines like Vogue, GQ or any other magazine has been appreciated. Fashion is something that we always look forward to enhance. Internationally, Burberry is one of the major fashion brands and we have done some phenomenal work for Burberry.”

    The company has also worked with a few of the world’s best magazines and photographers.

    That apart, it has also worked with the international series 24 where Jack Bauer returned to screens for the latest season of the show for Sky. The work features 24 stills taken over a 24-hour period across the streets of London.

    Limaye asserts, “Our work with Renault Duster was so impressive that Renault is using our image in all global markets where it will launch Duster and we are very proud of it.”

    Stating an example in the Indian market, Gosling says, “We have worked with Maruti Suzuki India. The company is the latest high profile automotive brand to trust the expertise of our talented Mumbai artists. This collection of images showcases the retouch and CG skills all the way from our Mumbai studio.”

    Happily Finishing

    The biggest marketing activity that Happy Finish undertook was associating with Kyoorius for Melt 2015, which concluded last weekend.

    Though there has been no structured research on the AR/VR industry but it comes under the digital industry. Talking about the industry potential, Limaye says, “My own assessment is that in the advertising industry, primarily where television has about 46 per cent market share of the total ad pie, I think that we have a potential of having a share of at least four per cent of the market size in the next four years. This means four per cent of the television pie, which is a huge chunk in itself.”

    Click to experience some of Happy Finish’s work.

  • DDH acquires Publicis’ shares in Dentsu Razorfish; to re-brand as Dentsu iX

    DDH acquires Publicis’ shares in Dentsu Razorfish; to re-brand as Dentsu iX

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Inc’s subsidiary Dentsu Digital Holdings (DDH) has acquired the 19.37 per cent shares held by Publicis Groupe in their joint venture company Dentsu Razorfish Inc., making Dentsu Razorfish a wholly owned subsidiary of DDH.

     

    As a result, Dentsu Razorfish will be rebranded Dentsu iX on 1 July.

     

    DentsuiX is a specialized one-stop agency that provides digital solutions for sophisticated and diverse needs. The new name reflects the company’s desire to create innovative experiences.

     

    Looking ahead, amid the progress of globalization in the digital marketing domain, the agency will seek to expand its operations through cooperation with the Dentsu Group’s international digital network.

     

    Dentsu Razorfish president and CEO Hidetoshi Tokumaru will head DentsuiX.

  • TTND wins Amazon Partner Network Excellence Award

    TTND wins Amazon Partner Network Excellence Award

    MUMBAI: Digital services company TO THE NEW Digital (TTND) has won the Amazon Partner Network Excellence Award for “Customer Obsession – North India” at the recently held AWS India Partner Summit in New Delhi.

     

    TTND won the award for its role of implementing and managing AWS infrastructure most effectively to meet the needs of its customers.

     

    TTND provides consulting, migration, implementation and managed services on Amazon Cloud. It is one of the few companies, which is a consulting partner of AWS with managed services provider and big data competencies.

     

    “At TO THE NEW Digital, customer focus is the heart of everything we do. We are really excited to be awarded with Amazon Partner Network Excellence Award and this recognition is a validation to our success in delivering robust and secure cloud based solutions to our customers. We look forward to grow our cloud practice with AWS competencies,” said TTND CEO Deepak Mittal.

  • Starcom MediaVest trains social media volunteers for SEA Games

    Starcom MediaVest trains social media volunteers for SEA Games

    MUMBAI: As the 28th South East Asian (SEA) Games nears, Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), which is the social media agency for the games in Singapore, has started training volunteers to be on the ground reporters, reporting the game and in-venue activities through SEA Games’ Twitter handle.

     

    The reason: to ensure a consistency in the quality and type of content volunteers are producing on behalf of the SEA Games committee.

     

    The training includes:

    How best to use Twitter – character limitations, hashtags

    Type of content to be tweeting

    Type of photos, videos to include in their tweets that will interest followers of the SEA Games

    What kind of preparation work to do before the event itself to ensure they get the best and most content out of it on ground

     

    SMG has trained 20-25 volunteers as on ground reporters.

     

    “The content the volunteers will be producing will be pulled into the ‘Social Wall’ SMG has built for the Games to pull all social media content into one place where people can consume and enjoy the games even if they can’t be in venue,” said Starcom MediaVest Group associate director Brenda Chuah.

     

    Singapore SEA Games Organising Committee (Singsoc) deputy director of digital Harbans J Singh added, “These games will really see citizen journalism at its finest as user generated content will be on show through the unique social wall that the SEA Games Website will have. We’ve put the last three years of preparation with over 500 people involved in developing and fine tuning all the different aspects of this extraordinary digital experience for the region to enjoy through any platform, and share their experience in a variety of ways.”

     

    “We are in an era of creativity, content and data. Brands that are connected are brands where people, trends and culture are at that moment in time. Brands that are connected are not only part of that story but in a way creating and amplifying that story. The SEA Games will once again return to Singapore after 22-year long hiatus. SMG is part of that story; the story behind training volunteers, the story of Singapore’s 50 years,” said Starcom MediaVest Group CEO Southeast Asia and VivaKi country chair Jeffrey Seah.

  • TO THE NEW consolidates digital agencies; eyes Europe, US markets

    TO THE NEW consolidates digital agencies; eyes Europe, US markets

    MUMBAI: Internet products and services company TO THE NEW Ventures has consolidated its specialized service businesses namely Ignitee Digital, Intelli Grape Software, Tangerine Digital and Techsailor under one brand called TO THE NEW Digital.

     

    Additionally, the agency is also planning to expand its global footprints from its current eight offices in six countries (India, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines) to markets like Europe and US. By 2017, the agency aims to triple its current manpower strength of 600 people to 2000.

     

    Headquartered in Singapore, TO THE NEW had set up its foundation in Asia including India, Singapore and China in early 2011 by acquiring a Delhi based content management company called Tangerine Digital. In December 2011, TO THE NEW acquired Delhi-based Intelligrape, a technology company that develops web and mobile applications using cutting edge technologies. In 2012, the company acquired Mumbai-based digital marketing services company Ignitee Digital. This was followed by the acquisition of Techsailor in China and Singapore in 2013.

     

    Disrupting the digital landscape, the company has been strategically investing to further strengthen the innovation and resources in order to integrate them under a single digital brand.

     

    Through this consolidation, TO THE NEW Digital is now uniquely placed to combine the power of technology, analytics, creative and content for digital transformation. The consolidation gives TO THE NEW Digital a competitive edge and a bigger playfield with more than 300 clients spread across 30 countries.

     

    TO THE NEW Digital CEO Deepak Mittal said, “Our clients will benefit through our extended service offerings for the next-generation digital experience. We already have a large portfolio of clients, which boasts of Fortune 500 companies as well as Silicon Valley start-ups including Time Warner Cable, Sony, Procter & Gamble, Castrol, Airbus, Citi Bank, Samsonite and Mat.se. We look forward to serve our global client base while exploring new opportunities to drive innovation and global growth.”

     

    TO THE NEW Ventures co-founder and CEO Puneet Johar added, “TO THE NEW Digital positions itself as a premium digital services company providing full spectrum of digital solutions. This is a significant step forward and enables us to execute on our long-term vision of value creation for our clients as a strategic partner. We aim to further accelerate digital disruption in the global market.”